We got a new mattress and got rid of the old one on craigslist. I also tried to sell two perfectly fine and full gallons of pink paint for $20, but no takers. Then I posted it for free and all of the sudden the whole world wanted to paint their houses pink. People will take anything when it's free! It's ridiculous.
We ran into my 92-year-old WWII vet neighbor at Costco and he gave Eli a lollipop. We've seen him at Kroger, too, and he always has lollipops to give to the kids. I think that is very sweet. The only times I've actually spoken to him have been at stores. We've tried to bring him cookies before, but he doesn't get around easily and I don't know if he can hear his doorbell... Sorry, tangent.
Sam learned the Harry Potter song Hedwig's Theme, and we taught Eli how to cast spells.
We went to Snowshoe. (Previous post.)
This is hard to read, but Afton randomly made me this sweet card.
"Dear Mom, thank you for haveing me as a baby you are so nice to me. Love, Afton." She's actually made me two cards that say that. I'm glad she appreciates it! She's the sweetest.
Park on a randomly warm day.
I took the kids bowling on President's Day. Every Monday is $4 per person for shoes and a game.
Best I could do.
Afton was Unicorn, Sam was Jaguar, Eli, and Mom the Bomb. Sam smoked us!
Afton's class celebrated the 100th day of school by having to put 100 of something on a shirt. Afton started out doing 100 A's, but petered out by about 7 and then just did dots/small marks. I don't blame her.
She also participated in an after-school hip-hop class for six weeks. Here's their final performance.
And one more Afton thing:
Titled: If I had a pet. "Pet's are fun to have. But I don't have one of them. Can you tell me ubawt them." Poor, deprived child!
One of the highlights of the month was going with my parents to see the Piano Guys here in Richmond. First we hit up a popular restaurant called Tarrant's.
Waiting for the show to begin.
So flattering.
They were great and are so talented. It was lots of fun!
Lastly, on a nice Saturday, we began Project Garage Clean-up. It was so great to throw a bunch of unnecessary stuff away (like the old brass door handles from when we moved it that we'd been keeping for some reason) and organize most of the rest. Here's a before shot. We have a three-car garage, so it's mostly just the third area that gets crazy since we park our cars in the other two spots.
Even though it's so much better, it still feels cluttered with all the bikes and trash cans... But in my head I know it's a lot better.
Back in the fall or early winter, Dan and I got the idea to take our family on a little ski trip to see if the kids liked it. Since neither Dan nor I had ever been before, we wanted to introduce our kids at a younger age to see if there was any interest. We talked with some friends who advised us to skip Wintergreen and Massanutten and go to Snowshoe. It's one of the best places to go within a few hours' drive of our home. So we booked a condo for a long weekend in February, got geared up, took our kids out of school, and away we went!
The condo was a minimum four night deal. We arrived late Wednesday night. Thursday Sam and Afton had ski school (Sam with the bigger kids while Afton was stuck with the younger ones). While they were in school, Dan took his first lesson (I had Eli) and then we switched. The weather on Thursday was TERRIBLE!
SOO windy, SOO cold! While I was waiting for my lesson to begin, I took this video from inside the shop.
I ended up getting a one-on-one lesson. My instructor was super nice and very encouraging, but at some point, honesty would have been a better route, I think. As I would go sliding backward down the mountain he'd say, "You got it! Nice job!" or something to that effect and I'm just thinking, "What is he talking about?!" Anyway, we practiced by taking a conveyor belt thing up a small hill, then getting off and going down the hill. Next we got on the chairlift and took a slightly bigger hill. We were pretty much the only people outside because it was just so crazy. I'm glad I tried it and I'm glad I got a lesson. I took a shuttle bus back to our condo and we all got back together for lunch. Later we went swimming at the indoor pool and then I think Dan may have gone out again.
The view from our condo:
Friday, thankfully, was a beautiful, clear day.
We all went out and practiced some more on the bunny hill. (Poor Afton - it's hard to get back up!)
Then Dan took Sam on their first run. From then on, they had a blast. Eli started to lose it so I took him and Afton back inside. We discovered on this trip how much Eli likes to watch basketball games. So we did a lot of that. And Curious George.
Later that afternoon I took the big kids to play in the snow and on to the tube park.
After dinner, Dan went night skiing.
Saturday Dan and Sam went out in the morning.
I took Afton and Eli to ride the bus (which Eli loved) to the main Snowshoe area and we explored a little bit.
Later I took Sam out for a while and we just did the small lift and run over and over because that's all I could handle!
Then we stuck around Snowshoe Village and met the rest of the family for pizza.
And we caught a gorgeous sunset.
Dan went out that night for one more night skiing session. (I brought along a good book, so don't feel bad for me being at the condo a lot! Plus they had HGTV...)
Sunday we packed up and headed home. We stopped in Charlottesville to go to church since we happened to be there at the right time to catch sacrament meeting. We went to the singles ward and Dad, who's in the stake presidency, happened to be there that week! So at the end of the meeting, I told Eli he could run up and see Grandpa. Well, right after the closing prayer, he jumped out of my arms and started racing up the aisle. But no one was getting out of their chairs. It's still dead quiet in there and here I go chasing my child who is so excited to see his grandpa... Anyway, slightly embarrassing, but Eli got to sit on Grandpa's lap while they introduced any visitors - which was why they were all quiet and not moving after the closing prayer...
We joined Dad for some dinner (Mom was out of town) and then we came back home. Fun trip!
Since then, Dan has purchased a year-long pass and has taken Sam two more times before the season ended. They have a great time and Sam makes it look so easy!
Eli figured out how to take pictures on my phone. If I'm not paying attention, he'll take dozens and dozens of the same thing.
Afton's homework for January was to complete 12 assignments out of 31 options. Of course she picked the most complicated ones. This one was to create a play and have your family perform it. Thankfully we had just gotten this big box so she used it as a manger and we performed the nativity.
What was in the box? This canvas. Now I finally feel like our bathroom is complete. It's a picture I took of our trek in Peru. I love it. It was taken after coming over the highest pass of the hike. Our trail friend, Chintin, is far down the trail.
Here's a close-up. Can you see him? He did the whole hike in jeans and carrying a jansport. And the friend he arrived with had to turn back on day 2 so Chintin did it alone.
Dan took the big kids sledding while Eli napped. A man with an awesome lens happened to be there taking pictures of his own kids so he offered to snap a few. I'm glad he did!
Bath time.
We find her in the most uncomfortable positions sometimes.
I began the process of clipping Eli's pacifier. With the other two kids, once it was snipped just a tiny bit, they were done with it. Eli is more stubborn. So it started like this:
Then went to this:
And now it's like half gone, but he still wants it, although I don't think he keeps it in for very long anymore.
We took a trip to the temple.
And I donated 9 inches of hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program.
Some days I like it, other days I feel like Professor Snape.
We spent a beautiful day at the grandparents'.
Where Afton served as their new toy tester. She approves.
